Bring back history and civics!
It was a significant day last year 2016, of 13 January……….I was on my regular morning walk when the thought welled up in my mind. I call 13 January significant because of its political history for neighbour Togo in 1963, and Ghana in 1972.
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Togo
In Togo on 13th January 1963, President Sylvanus Olympio was overthrown and killed by Sgt Eyadema leading a group of old colonial Togolese soldiers demobilised by France after service in French Indo-China. Eyadema subsequently made himself the Head of State.
Ghana
In Ghana on 13th January 1972, the government of Prime Minister Dr Busia was overthrown by then Lt Col IK Akyeampong. Subsequently, Gen Akyeampong made himself Ghana’s Head of State. This was not Ghana’s first coup d’etat though.
Maj Gen HT Alexander
Incidentally, the last British Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces Maj Gen HT Alexander wrote in his book in 1961 titled The African Tightrope that, Ghana will regret the day it allowed the Military into Politics, or Politics into the Military.
24th February 1966
It started on 24 February 1966, when then Colonel EK Kotoka (later Lt Gen), Commander 2 Infantry Brigade Group in the northern sector of Ghana and his Brigade Major, Major AA Afrifa (later Lt Gen) overthrew the government of President Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah. The bloody coup saw the killing of the Army Commander Maj Gen CM Barwah. Lt Gen JA Ankrah (Rtd) became the Head of State.
President Nkrumah who was then on his way to Viet Nam ostensibly to broker peace for the Viet Nam War was left stranded. Eventually, President Sekou Toure of Guinea made Osagyefo co-President of Guinea until his death in Romania on 27th April 1972 aged 62.
April 1967 Abortive Coup
On 17th April 1967, the 2 Recce (Reconnaissance) Squadron based in Ho, staged an unsuccessful countercoup named OPERATION GUITAR BOY against the military junta. The three young officers who led the coup were Lt SB Arthur, Lt Moses Yeboah and 2/Lt Osei-Poku. Arthur and Yeboah were executed by firing squad while Osei-Poku was jailed for thirty years. Incidentally, like Gen Barwah in the first coup, Gen Kotoka was killed in the abortive coup.
1979-1992
Apart from the period between 24 September 1979 and 31 December 1981 when Dr Hilla Limann served as President in the Third Republic, the rest of the period from 1979 -1992 was dominated by Flt Lt Rawlings. Significant events during the period were the execution of the Generals and the killing of the Judges.
The Executed Generals
The Generals who were executed in June 1979 included three former Heads of State, Gen IK Akyeampong, Gen FWK Akuffo and Gen AA Afrifa. The rest were a former Army Commander Gen REA Kotei, the Navy Commander Rear Admiral Joy Amedume, the Air Force Commander Air Vice Marshal GY Boakye and the Border Guards Commander Gen EK Utuka.
Gen NA Odartey-Wellington, the Army Commander was killed in action while opposing the 4 June 1979 insurrection. Colonel Roger Felli who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs was executed with the Generals.
The Murdered Judges
On 30th June 1982, three judges and a retired Army Officer were abducted from their homes. Their charred bodies were found at a Military range outside Accra. They were Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, Justice KA Agyapong, Justice FP Sarkodie and retired Major Buckman.
Military and Politics
The question of the military’s engagement in Politics has been extensively discussed in academia. Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington and University of Michigan Professor Morris Janowitz have written profusely on the subject. Like it is the case with most subjects in academics, opinion is divided on the Military’s role in Politics.
Some argue that, the Military as an institution of discipline does not stage coups. It is individuals within the Military who stage coups. However, Pakistan and Myanmar (Burma) are cited as examples of countries where the Military top hierarchy have led coups and governed.
Others say that, for developing third world countries, a strong visionary military hand of discipline is needed for direction.
In 1970, a new theory called the SCHNEIDER DOCTRINE came into being.
The Schneider Doctrine
Gen Rene Schneider was the Army Commander of Chile in 1970 when Marxist Professor Salvador Allende won the presidential elections at the fourth attempt. Reacting to US objection to Chile having a Marxist President, Gen Schneider stated as follows:
“The Armed Forces are not a road to political power, nor an alternative to that power. They exist to guarantee the regular work of the political system, and the use of force for any other purpose than its defence, constitutes high treason…………………………The only limitation to this is in the case that, the State stopped acting within its legality. In that case, the Armed Forces have a higher loyalty to the people, and are free to decide an abnormal situation beyond the framework of the Law.”
On 24 October, 1970 Gen Schneider was assassinated.
Conclusion
13th January………
The phenomenon of coups d’état in West Africa which started in Togo on 13th January 1963 with Sgt Eyadema killing President Olympio, was soon to spread across the sub-region. Gen Akyeampong’s overthrow of Dr Busia on 13 Jan 72 was preceded in 1966 by the overthrow of Dr Nkrumah by Gen Kotoka.
While academicians have been divided on the propriety of coups against democratically elected governments, hind sight has been the better teacher. Perhaps, the current impasse in the Gambia where defeated President Jammeh is refusing to hand over after accepting defeat earlier, gives credence to the Schneider Doctrine.
60th Birthday
For Ghana our dear country, we have seen it all, and we know better. At age sixty on 6th March 2017, all we want is peace. That way, Ghana can develop the way Malaysia which gained independence in 1957 like Ghana, has done. Questioned on 1 January 2017 on when Ghana became independent, a young man who wanted the prize of a treat at Kempinski Hotel simply said 1957. Asked for the exact date, he said he did not know!
Ghana Education Service, please rescue Ghana from such ignorance, mediocrity and deliberate distortion of facts. Bring back HISTORY and CIVICS!
Writer’s email: [email protected]